user authentication interface in python

[Gerhard Häring]

scn wrote:
> hello.  does anyone have a high-level example of how to implement
> 'secure' user authentication interface for web users in python.
> 
> i am in the process of designing a simple web application that
> requires user authentication and i remembered that php typically held
> system authentication information in a separate file and included this
> file in the main interface script.

What's the advantage of this approach? The only pro I see is that if you 
misconfigure your webserver so the .php file is rendered as-is without 
processing through PHP the user won't see the password.

> is there a similar convention or methodology in python for
> accomplishing the same idea? [...]

Sure, you can

a) import a module from elsewhere

or

b) open the file using file("/path/to/file") and read it

I still don't see why you'd want to store user information like this.

FWIW, I typically do authentication either using Apache directly or 
store login and password in a PostgreSQL database.